The dug up roads in Model Town are annoying residents, as the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) is repairing sewerage pipelines used by Model Town and Garden Town, Pakistan Today has leant. WASA decided to replace 30-year-old sewerage pipelines with the new ones after receiving complaints by the residents of Garden Town and Model Town, who were facing sewerage problems.
Owing to this project, one of the major streets of Model Town, which runs through the society linking Marian Chowk to Link Road, has been dug out and is unusable. Almost a month and a half have passed since the repair works started. Though WASA is conducting the project, Model Town management is responsible for reconstructing and renovating the streets once the new pipes are installed.
The Model Town management claims that they are constantly invigilating WASA’s speed of work. Though WASA has planned to finish the job within six months, the Model Town management sources claimed that WASA was working at a snails pace and feared that the project might delay by a month. Model Town residents experience restricted movement in the area owing to dug up roads.
CA Textile Mill Director Marketing Ali Wahid Cheena said that this project should have been initiated either before the Kalma Chowk Flyover project or after it. He said that the people living in areas connected to Model Town, Garden Town and Kalma Chowk were being affected owing to ongoing traffic problems created by repair works. He said it reflected lack of coordination between government departments.
Fahad Sohail, a resident of Model Town D Block, said, “Entering Model Town has become very difficult as the Kalma Chowk is under construction as well. It has just been 3 to 4 days that the road reopened for commuters,” he said. Model Town’s gates close after 9 pm owing to security concerns and once the gates are closed, commuters are seeing trying to find their way in or out.
The main road that has been shredded by WASA dissects E and F Block from K Block and runs right through the Model Town to Link Road.Model Town Vice President Dr Tanveer Zubairi said that the Model Town management was well aware of the commuting issues. He said that sewerage troubles were becoming a growing problem in the society so the management had decided to reform the sewerage pipelines. He said that the pipelines had to be laid 30 feet below the surface and it was not an easy task and it took two to three weeks in installing a pipe in one area.
“If a lane is blocked it should reopen in 3 weeks time”, he added. He asked the residents to remain patient on the issue as the sewage problem needed to be resolved as well. He said that water sprinkling on the roads to prevent dust clouds, was being ensured, while the management was motivating WASA to finish the job as soon as possible.
